Assessment of development level of circular economy in regions of Russia

Currently, the solution of a whole range of priority tasks of social and economic development of Russia is possible in the conceptual and instrumental framework of the circular economy. In accordance with this concept, the article reveals the content of the circular economy and justifies the importance of its assessment. According to the opinion of the authors, the recognition of the potentially high efficiency and priority of development of a circular economy does not implyits automatic implementation in real economic systems. In practice, the transition to a circular economy requires the development of special mechanisms at different levels of economic hierarchy. The creation of such mechanisms, the definition of their content, instrumental core and resource provision is largely due to the current level of economic circularization, which determines the importance of the development and application of methods for circular economy measurement. The article analyzes the existing Russian and foreign methods of circular economy measurement. China’s considerable experience in the development of the system of indicators for circular economy assessment at the macro-, meso- and microlevels is shown. The paper proves that the indicators characterizing the development of the circular economy are mainly focused on the formation and use of waste, energy intensity and water capacity of the gross regional product, as well as investments in “green” initiatives, the values of which give an idea of the development of the circular economy in various territories. Taking into account this fact, assessment expediency of the circular economy which uses official statistical data at the level of Russian regions is justified. To solve this goal, clustering of the regions of the Russian Federation was carried out according to the indicators of energy intensity of GRP, share of used and neutralized waste in the total volume of waste generated during production and consumption, water capacity of GRP, amount (mass) of generated production and consumption waste per capita, volume of municipal solid waste exported per capita over the year. This assessment made possible to determine the specifics and develop recommendations for the development of the circular economy in the regions of the country.